In this view of the Chancellorsville area, looking west, the open acreage is the Mullins farm--which is available for development. Visit the Photo Place

View the Spotsylvania County community page

Chancellorsville said at risk

Chancellorsville once again in preservation group's ranking of endangered battlefields

By RUSTY DENNEN

Date published: 2/25/2004

By RUSTY DENNEN Group: Toll Brothers negotiating to buy Mullins farm

Chancellorsville is one of the nation's most development-endangered Civil War battlefields.

And Spotsylvania Court House battlefield is at risk, too, according to an annual report released yesterday by the Washington-based Civil War Preservation Trust.

Jim Campi, spokesman for the trust, said progress has been made in preserving historically important land at Chancellorsville, but some areas are poised for development.

For two years, Chancellorsville has been a high-profile battlefield for preservationists.

In March 2003, the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors turned down plans for the Town of Chancellorsville, a 2,000-residence mixed-use development.

In January, plans for an Outer Connector around Fredericksburg, which would have been built through the battlefield, were shelved.

"However, after these twin victories, Chancellorsville remains vulnerable," the trust reported.

The trust's focus now is on about 800 acres owned by area businessman John Mullins east of the Chancellorsville portion of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, where the Town of Chancellorsville was to have been built.

Mullins' development company, Mullco Inc., now has two residential sections and a commercial area in the works on part of the property known as the Ashley-Orrock tract. That 273-acre parcel is on the "Lick Run Element," where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee crossed after the battle.

Part of Mullins' land sits on acreage where the historically significant first-day fighting occurred on May 1, 1863.

Mullins has declined comment on his plans for the property.

But the trust says one of the nation's largest residential developers, Toll Brothers Inc., is negotiating to purchase the land.

Toll Brothers' Virginia Division office in Northern Virginia did not return a reporter's telephone call yesterday.

Toll Brothers, based in Huntington Valley, Pa., recently tried to develop property at Valley Forge National Historical Park. The company bills itself as the nation's leading builder of luxury homes.

The trust and local preservation groups have long been interested in purchasing Mullins' land, but preliminary discussions between the parties went nowhere.

Follow us on

Date published: 2/25/2004